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We live in SC in a 55+ community and put our house on the market at a low price for the area. The house sold in 3 weeks and we are now under contract. The buyers gave us a bargain offer and had us throw in about $5,000 worth of household appliances such as the washer and dryer and all the window treatments which are worth that amount which we accepted at the time. The buyer had the house inspected and found the HVAC needed repair or replacement and 18 really picky things such as changing a battery, trimming bushes and burned out light bulb.since then the HVAC a/c unit broke but the buyers still want to go through with the sale and we need to repair that or replace it. Also we needed to pay for reinspection. Now we are talking even more money to spend on an already bargain priced home.
The realtor has either either not returned phone calls at all or slow about it and got the inspection report on Thursday but never gave it to us until 3:00 pm on Monday since she went away for the weekend. We tried the calling the broker on Sat. Morning and he never returned our call. We complained verbally about the communication problems between the agent and ourselves and that did no good. She wanted us to give her answers on everything by 9:30 the next day. So we agreed to most of the repairs. We felt rushed and with little help from them.The realtor insulted us and so we fired her and the broker (who also would not return phone calls) is now doing the sale.
The problems we are having is that we have lost all faith in our real estate broker - he is clearly working to get the sale through and ignoring our wishes. we just want to get out of this nightmare. They are stepping in and making promises from our sales contract for repairs if we wont agree to them to get the buyer to buy. I have never experienced anything like this. We have lost all faith in him. We indicated that the buyer is not a good fit for our house and he used intimidation tactics like we wont get another sale for a year or we will probably be sued.
Can anyone help us make sense out of this and what to do next? No way do we want to sell for the low price or throwing in all the other stuff and repairs , etc. and we are so upset with the broker, we don't want to even talk to him anymore. He is arrogant and intimidating. Further we could never find a house in our community to replace this one for what we are selling it for. Can we get out of this nightmare?
This is a shinning example of why everyone should have a real estate attorney involved and consultant with for every single real estate transaction. When going to sell or buy a home, the first thing you do is meet with your real estate attorney and ask how to proceed.
After you let your real estate attorney handle this, you might considering doing this to your former realtor.
The accepted offer outlines each parties obligations and conditions to cancel.
I buy property as-is because it comes with a substantial discount and as-is properties generally have issues and property with issues may not meet mortgage or insurance underwriting.
Generally, the seller is required to reasonably maintain the property in the condition at the time the offer was accepted.
Still remember one local sale where the out of town sellers had the utilities turned off when the offer was accepted... the landscaping perished in the 4 weeks it took to close the sale in the heat of the summer...
It got ugly with the result being the seller could either reimburse the buyer for out of pocket costs or the value of the lost landscaping...
Many do make a good point that just about any scenario requires a functional A/C if present.
My State is a disclosure state so anything that affects value is relevant when known by the seller.
Thanks to everyone for their collective thoughts. We have decided to sell as is and move on with a fresh start somewhere else.
You realize as is means at the time you signed your contract. If something like the AC breaks after that during escrow you are still on the hook. You can still reach an agreement but it's perfectly reasonable for them to want it fixed. Imagine you were in their shoes and you were buying a house and found out the AC broke. Would you as a buyer just eat that and be happy? Sounds like you are going to have to find another buyer who wants a fixer upper and knows that going in.
No you can't just back out of a contract. Have you ever read a real estate contract? There are VERY specific things that must happen by specific dates. If one of those things fails to happen, that's pretty much you're only chance out. Like a horrible inspection will give you a chance to walk. Once you agree to addendums there's no just walking away. You really need a real estate attorney for this. And no a buyer cannot walk away at any time either.
Actually you can just back out. You just have to be willing to accept the consequences which might (but probably won't) end in getting sued for performance.
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Originally Posted by Xelfer
At this point, I'm kinda hoping they sue you for specific performance.
IMHO, you're being purposefully difficult and tying up the buyer's time with your mistake, and you should pay for that.
Sued for what? Declining a demand and countering with for sale as is? Thats called negotiation. People sell homes all the time as is.
You realize as is means at the time you signed your contract. If something like the AC breaks after that during escrow you are still on the hook. You can still reach an agreement but it's perfectly reasonable for them to want it fixed. Imagine you were in their shoes and you were buying a house and found out the AC broke. Would you as a buyer just eat that and be happy? Sounds like you are going to have to find another buyer who wants a fixer upper and knows that going in.
The OP said it was during the inspection that it was determined the AC needed repair or replacement, so unless OP agreed to something which it's not really clear if they did, I don't think this is the same situation.
Two things. If the AC was broken and the seller was aware, it should have been on the property disclosure statement that was given to the buyer prior to going into contract.
If it came up during the inspections, I would think the seller could either fix it and continue with the sale or decline to make the repair and be ok with the buyer walking away from the home purchase (seems like the OP no longer wants to sell to this buyer anyway so probably not an issue.) The seller would then have to disclose for the next buyers or repair prior to relisting which would then enable to them to market the home with new HVAC which could entice a higher purchase price from any new buyers.
I would try to get a few second opinions on whether the HVAC could be repaired before doing anything. Like others mentioned, some folks just want to sell a new unit. If it can be repaired, do that and offer a home warranty for buyer's peace of mind.
Two things. If the AC was broken and the seller was aware, it should have been on the property disclosure statement that was given to the buyer prior to going into contract. Or a 3rd option-if it broke after inspections then seller could be required by the contract to repair or replace so they can convey the house in the same condition as it was in at time of contract
If it came up during the inspections, I would think the seller could either fix it and continue with the sale or decline to make the repair and be ok with the buyer walking away from the home purchase (seems like the OP no longer wants to sell to this buyer anyway so probably not an issue.) The seller would then have to disclose for the next buyers or repair prior to relisting which would then enable to them to market the home with new HVAC which could entice a higher purchase price from any new buyers. A new HVAC doesn't sell a home for more money, it just keeps buyers from beating you up on the price. A repair only certainly doesn't get more money.
I would try to get a few second opinions on whether the HVAC could be repaired before doing anything. Like others mentioned, some folks just want to sell a new unit. If it can be repaired, do that and offer a home warranty for buyer's peace of mind.Second opinions are always a good idea.
So seller, you do need to get some legal help on this one. Clearly you aren't getting what you need from your agent-either because they aren't providing it or you aren't listening. 55 and over communities are tough, you have a limited buyer pool. I am so rooting for you to have a good outcome on this. I just don't know what that is. If you were in the buyers shoes what would your expectations be?
So an update. We are still in a state of limbo. We told our agent we would not fix anything, that we are selling AS IS because of the low price we accepted. BUT...The realtor keeps coming back re-negotiating the sale. He just keeps going on and on day after day. Will we do this or that? He will not accept the AS IS. OUr lawyer told us to sell AS IS and it is a good thing because the attic fan also went caput.
Meanwhile the HVAC guy came over to our house and attempted a repair on the HVAC even though we called and cancelled the repair with the owner of the HVAC company. There is still a leak even though the repair was made. Looks like it will need to be replaced.
Some of you were correct when you said we feel we were taken advantage of during negotiations. But we are very unhappy with the realtor who would not return phone calls, etc. He has been doing better since we told him we no longer wanted to work with the listing agent. ( another story of bad behavior for another time).
We are not RE wheelers and dealers. This has been the most frustrating experience ever and the buyer will not back out, the realtors will not give up and we cannot fix all this stuff- especially replace the HVAC. We may be reacting emotionally but the circumstances are highly unusual and we are stuck with an iron clad contract. We cannot consider risking being sued but we can't get anybody to move forward. So limbo,here we are.
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Originally Posted by justanokie
Actually you can just back out. You just have to be willing to accept the consequences which might (but probably won't) end in getting sued for performance.
Sued for what? Declining a demand and countering with for sale as is? Thats called negotiation. People sell homes all the time as is.
The OP stated that they agreed to most of the repairs in the very first post. That's hardly "as-is." What the OP is trying to do now is "unagree," which is a waste of everyone's time. Now things are breaking in the home AFTER the contract was created, and as others have stated—the OP is responsible for providing the product at the condition that the product was offered and accepted.
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